The prior art is replete with golf putter designs that are said to improve the roll and path of travel of a golf ball so as to provide greater putting accuracy for the golfer. Typically, a golf putter is provided with a substantially vertical planar face for striking a golf ball along a line substantially through the center of gravity of the ball. In such known putter designs, the ball initially translates or slides across the putting surface without substantial spin or roll until the frictional forces between the ball and the putting surface impart a forward rolling motion to the ball. This phenomenon .and the problems associated with putters having a vertical planar impact surface are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,684 to Dippel.
According to the Dippel patent, immediate forward spin or roll may be imparted to the golf ball by means of a putter with a cylindrical club head having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the golf ball. In this way according to the patentee, the club will strike the ball slightly below a horizontal plane through the center of gravity of the ball and the cylindrical head remains in rolling contact with the ball so as to impart immediate forward spin to the ball thereby achieving a truer path of the ball. Similar putters with a cylindrical club head are also disclosed in British Patent No. 1,008,972 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,665,909 to Wilson.
A number of prior art patents disclose golf putters in which the club head is provided with a curved or planar surface or an edge positioned to strike a golf ball at a point above a horizontal plane containing the center of gravity of the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 1,467,714 to Doerr; U.S. Pat. No. 1,525,137 to Lawton; U.S. Pat. No. 3,085,804 to Pieper; U.S. Pat. No. 3,333,854 to White; U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,076 to Cella; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,385 to Macera are all representative of patents disclosing putters intended to impart topspin by striking the ball above a horizontal plane containing the center of gravity of the ball.
While some or all of the aforementioned prior art golf putters may be operative to impart a degree of forward roll to a golf ball when the ball is struck in the manner described by the patentees, it is believed that a consistent forward roll using the prior art putters cannot be readily achieved by golfers of all levels from the professional to the occasional or beginning golfer. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a golf putter that may be used by professional, amateur and beginning golfers alike to consistently impart an immediate or substantially instantaneous forward roll to a golf ball when the ball is struck by the putter club head.